1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a means of easily applying alternative pre-determined tension states upon the strings of various types of fretted or unfretted stringed musical instruments such as electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, lap-steel guitars, banjos and many others.
Stringed musical instruments, such as guitars, employ a plurality of strings which are anchored and tensioned so as to produce, when plucked, a corresponding series of open notes for which customary tunings have evolved. Such tunings are known to musicians and largely determine the fingering patterns for those strings so as to produce the desired combinations or progressions of notes.
Musicians may occasionally choose to alter the relative tuning of the strings for the purpose of expanding their musical capability. Conventionally, such alterations of pitch would involve readjusting the tension, and thus pitch, of the specific string(s) either by ear, or with the assistance of a tuning fork or electronic tuner. In order to avoid this critical readjustment process, various means of applying alternative pre-determined tension states upon the strings have been developed and are known in the prior art.
2. Description of the Related Art
Despite offering the benefits of applying alternative pre-determined tension states, the various devices known in the prior art all require installation of specialist equipment upon a given instrument so as to provide this function. For the purposes of this document, the word ‘installation’ is taken to mean an attachment process which, at the very least, requires a string to be de-tensioned and released from the instrument but may also mean the requirement for the use of a tool and may further mean the requirement for some modification to the host instrument, such as the drilling of a hole for example. Installation is thus undesirable because: it may be time-consuming and inflexible; it may require the use of specialist tools or skill, and; it may impair the host instrument in such a way that it can not be returned to it's original condition.
Similarly, the devices known in the prior art may only be suitable for certain types or models of instrument, may be limited in use to designated strings, may be rather obtrusive when fitted or, may introduce tuning instability in service.
Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide a means of repeatably applying alternative pre-determined tension states upon the strings of suitable musical instruments: which requires no installation upon the host instrument; which may be readily fitted and removed as preferred; which may be used on virtually any type or model of instrument; which may be used on any string, or multiples of strings, and; which would be unobtrusive when in use.